26 A CHRONICLE OF THREE LITTLE KINGS. 



destroyed. Even after the salt bath, which one 

 bird took always about eleven in the morning, 

 and the other about four in the afternoon, they 

 did not stop to dry their plumage ; but simply 

 passed the wing feathers through the beak, pay- 

 ing no attention to the breast feathers, which 

 often hung in locks, showing the dark part next 

 the body, and so disguising the birds that I 

 scarcely knew them when they came to the nest. 



The bath was interesting. The river, so 

 called, was in fact an arm of the Great South 

 Bay, and of course salt. To get a bath, the bird 

 flew directly into the water, as if after a fish ; 

 then came to the fence to shake himself. Some- 

 times the dip was repeated once or twice, but 

 more often bathing ended with a single plunge. 



Two weeks had passed over their heads, and 

 the three little kings had for several days dallied 

 with temptation on the brink before one set foot 

 outside the nest. Even then, on the fifteenth 

 day, he merely reached the doorstep, as it were, 

 the branch on which it rested. However, that 

 was a great advance. He shook himself thor- 

 oughly, as if glad to have room to do so. This 

 venturesome infant hopped about four inches 

 from the walls of the cottage, looked upon the 

 universe from that remote point, then hurried 

 back to his brothers, evidently frightened at his 

 own boldness. 



